Doctor Who pips Top Gear as BBC's biggest brand

Recently resurrected sci-fi stalwart Doctor Who has become the BBC's top earning brand.

The revamped kids show which has been responsible for more hiding behind the sofa and damp underpants than any other franchise in the history of children's television has now become the Beeb's most profitable single show, knocking Jeremy Clarkson's rapidly-running-out-of-ideas motoring magazine show Top Gear from its lofty perch.

According to the Guardian, the Tardis-travelling Time Lord increased the revenue generated from overseas broadcasts, DVDs and tatty merchandising by close to 50 per cent, helping to generate more than £300 million for the broadcaster's commercial operation, BBC Worldwide.

The BBC now reckons that 45 per cent of its sales come from just 12 brands including the aforementioned Doctor Who, Top Gear, Walking With Dinosaurs, Waking the Dead, Sherlock and The Human Planet.

The BBC has plans to open iPlayer up to those not forced to pay the License Fee with non-UK subscriptions to the service.

They'll spend all the cash on pathetic shows about D-list celebrities doing painful things in spandex underpants no doubt.